Daniel Wallace murder: Accused 'was babysitting' on night drug dealer was killed
The girlfriend of a murder suspect has claimed that he was babysitting with her on the night a drug dealer was bludgeoned to death.
Penny Harper, aged 19, was giving evidence at Birmingham Crown Court, where Sam Arnold is on trial for the murder of Daniel Indiga Wallace.
He was found dead in a pool of his own blood after being stabbed 19 times at his flat in Fisher Street, Tipton last November.
Miss Harper told the jury that Arnold, 21, had been with her all night, babysitting her sister's children and watching TV on November 7, when Mr Wallace is believed to have been killed.
She also said that Arnold was shy, polite and never argued with anybody when they first met two years ago.
Mr Jo Sidhu QC, defending Arnold, said to her: "Talk us through what you did on the evening of November 7, was it a typical Saturday?"
She said: "In some ways. We went to Asda to do some shopping, my mum came, so did Sam, my sister and her child.
"Me and Sam went off and did our own thing and met my mum back at our house.
"She took her stuff and went.
"We cooked some food and watched TV. X Factor was on. I can't remember what else we watched."
She then told how later on her sister Simone picked her and Arnold up, and took them to her flat to babysit while Simone went on a night out.
Miss Harper said: "We would babysit for her on Friday or Saturday nights so she could go out.
"We went round at about 11pm and just watched TV.
"We stayed until I think around 3am. Her friend dropped us off back at the flat."
She added: "When we got there the door was unlocked. I'm scared of anything so Sam went in first. He said it was okay and nobody had been in the flat. We made some food because we hadn't eaten at Simone's. Then I went to sleep before Sam.
"After that we woke up to a knock at the door from the police."
Mr Sidhu asked her: "What was Sam like when you first met him? What was his personality like?"
She said: "Beautiful. He was lovely, he was really polite and he was shy. He never argued with anybody."
"Did you know he was dealing drugs?" asked Mr Sidhu.
She said: "Yes, he was when I first met him. I don't like drugs. He used to only have one or two spliffs a day, but it got worse and was taking about six or seven by last summer.
"He tried to take an overdose because he stopped once and couldn't cope, but I managed to stop him."
Arnold, of Slater Street, Tipton, denies murder.
The trial continues.
